THE HOT STORY

AI is making workloads more intense

AI is increasing the speed, density and complexity of work rather than reducing it, according to an analysis of 164,000 workers’ digital work activity by workforce analytics and productivity-tracking software company ActivTrak. The data covers more than 443 million hours of work across 1,111 employers, making it one of the biggest studies of AI’s effects on work habits to date, the Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s not that AI doesn’t create efficiency,” observed Gabriela Mauch, ActivTrak’s chief customer officer. “It’s that the capacity it frees up immediately gets repurposed into doing other work, and that’s where the creep is likely to happen.”

Wall Street Journal

CYBERSECURITY

McKinsey rushes to fix AI system after hacker exposes flaws

McKinsey is rushing to fix flaws in an in-house AI system after hackers - who acted without malicious intent - gained access to millions of its internal messages and were able to identify sensitive files. Researchers at red-team security startup CodeWall say their AI agent hacked McKinsey's internal AI platform and gained full read and write access to the chatbot in just two hours. "We used a specific AI research agent to autonomously select the target, it did this without zero human input," CodeWall CEO Paul Price told The Register. "Hackers will be using the same technology."

Financial Times

The Register

WORKFORCE

Finance chiefs grapple with rising healthcare costs

Finance leaders are increasingly under pressure as employer healthcare costs are projected to rise about 9.5% in 2026, the largest increase in at least 15 years. Cava chief financial officer Tricia Tolivar says the restaurant chain already raised employee premiums in 2025 and is now considering self-insuring to gain greater control over costs while maintaining employee benefits. At Costco, CFO Gary Millerchip noted healthcare expenses recently grew faster than company sales, an unusual trend the retailer is monitoring closely. Meanwhile, Ethan Allen CFO Matt McNulty said the company has seen the cost of individual medical claims rise significantly, with some treatments now 15%–25% more expensive than a few years ago. As healthcare spending continues to climb, CFOs are exploring strategies such as self-insurance, tighter vendor negotiations, benefit redesign and cost-sharing with employees to manage the financial impact while still supporting workers’ healthcare coverage.

Wall Street Journal

Weekly jobless claims dip to 213,000

U.S. jobless claims came in lower last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, indicating that layoffs remain contained. Initial filings in the seven days to March 7th dropped 1,000 to 213,000, putting them 2,000 below the 215,000 expected among economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. The four-week moving average totaled 212,000 while continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, fell 2,000 to 1.85m. “The level of claims is just very low, plain and simple,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in a note to clients. “The data show no sign of the layoffs we would expect in a weakening labor market during the early days of a hypothetical recession.”

Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal

STRATEGY

Cement startup cuts staff after Trump support ends

Massachusetts-based green cement startup Sublime Systems has cut two-thirds of its workforce after President Donald Trump’s administration canceled a $87m grant that would have supported its first major manufacturing facility. As a result of the loss, “The company has faced compounding challenges in assembling the capital stack required to scale our operations,” a Sublime spokesperson explained. Sublime uses an electrochemical process that eliminates limestone - cement’s main ingredient - which releases carbon dioxide when it is heated up and broken down. Prior to the layoffs, Sublime employed between 80 and 90 people.

Bloomberg

LEGAL

Trump DOJ official Ed Martin faces disciplinary proceedings

Senior Justice Department official Ed Martin faces allegations of misconduct from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in Washington - the enforcement arm for the local DC Bar. The office alleges that Martin - a staunch ally of President Donald Trump - violated ethics rules in early 2025 by making threats against Georgetown University Law Center for its practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). At the time, Martin was serving as the interim U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia. “Acting in his official capacity and speaking on behalf of the government, he used coercion to punish or suppress a disfavored viewpoint, the teaching and promotion of ‘DEI,’” the office claimed.

Bloomberg

CORPORATE

Exxon Mobil plans to shift legal home to Texas from New Jersey

Exxon Mobil plans to ask shareholders to approve moving its legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas, where the company already has its headquarters and a large share of its workforce. Chief executive Darren Woods said the move aims to protect the company from what it sees as increasing shareholder litigation and “abuse.” The oil major, incorporated in New Jersey since 1882, would join companies such as Tesla and Coinbase that have recently reincorporated in Texas amid growing frustration with traditional corporate legal hubs like Delaware and New Jersey. Texas has introduced new business courts and laws making it harder to sue company directors or file shareholder proposals. Exxon said around 30% of its employees and all its U.S. research facilities are already based in Texas, making the shift a logical step.

Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal

TECHNOLOGY

ABB partners with Nvidia to improve factory robot training

The robotics unit of Swiss-based ABB is teaming up with Nvidia to improve training methods of industrial robots. ABB will use Nvidia's Omniverse libraries of simulated data to make its training environments more realistic by incorporating typical factory floor details such as lighting, shadows, and textures in virtual simulations. ABB Robotics President Marc Segura said that ⁠robots' often-limited information about the world around them can undermine accuracy, repeatability and speed in training scenarios. "The industrial sector ⁠needs physically accurate simulation to bridge the gap between virtual training and the real-world deployment of AI-driven robotics at scale," observed Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at Nvidia.

Reuters

HEALTH & WELLBEING

FDA probed over rare-disease drug denials

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has launched an investigation into denials of drugs for rare diseases by the US Food and Drug Administration. Johnson said he plans to write letters to the agency asking why it denied certain treatments, and he’s also considering having top FDA officials, including Commissioner Marty Makary, testify before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that he chairs. “The stories are so outrageous,” Johnson said. “It just appears that they’re looking for excuses to say no.” Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, responded: “The FDA stands by the scientists evaluating these applications and each rationale is explained in detail through CRLs, which for the first time, are made available to the public,” the spokesman, said in a statement.

Bloomberg

INTERNATIONAL

Bloomberg tells Gulf staff they can temporarily leave the region

Bloomberg has announced that employees in the Gulf, particularly at its Dubai headquarters, can temporarily relocate due to escalating attacks from Iran. A spokesperson confirmed that while most staff have not requested relocation, they are permitted to do so. Bloomberg said it remains committed to the region, with founder Michael Bloomberg saying the company is dedicated to supporting clients during this challenging time. Other firms, including Citigroup and Standard Chartered, have also advised their Dubai employees to work remotely amid the ongoing conflict.

Zawya EN

HSBC scraps work from home for client-facing staff in Hong Kong

HSBC has announced that customer-facing staff in Hong Kong must return to the office five days a week, effective April 1. An internal memo outlined that managing directors and senior staff with direct reports should be in the office at least four days a week, while other staff must attend at least three days weekly. The memo stated: “To our people managers, you are instrumental in driving good practice and experience . . .We ask you to role model the change with clear guidance.” HSBC, the largest bank in Hong Kong, employs over 20,000 staff and previously asked managing directors to work in the office four days a week to "set the tone from the top."

Business Times SG

South China Morning Post

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